I know most of you already know this , but the Sun-Times article gives the details :

Now Thomas gets to decide if his career with the Sox continues.

After a turbulent 2002 when much of the focus on Thomas concerned his odd "diminishing- skills'' contract clause, the contract ball is in his court. His old deal with chairman Jerry Reinsdorf was reworked in the offseason with the aid of Thomas' new agent, Arn Tellum. Under the new terms, Thomas was paid $5 million this season.

But he now can invoke or decline a $6 million option for 2004. Should he decline, the Sox have the choice of invoking their $8 million option bringing him back for 2004. If the team declines, Thomas would get a $2 million buyout and the right to free agency.

The gamble for Thomas if he rejects the $6 million is that the Sox would pass on the $8 million -- and that the free-agent market also would pass on that kind of salary for him.

Thomas, 35, has a window of time shortly after the World Series ends to test the free-agent waters.

For now, the likelihood of Thomas leaving seems remote. :

http://www.suntimes.com/output/sox/cst-spt-sox282.html

jabrch

09-28-2003, 10:18 AM

Originally posted by hose
Here is what Frank can do after today's game.

I know most of you already know this , but the Sun-Times article gives the details :

Now Thomas gets to decide if his career with the Sox continues.

After a turbulent 2002 when much of the focus on Thomas concerned his odd "diminishing- skills'' contract clause, the contract ball is in his court. His old deal with chairman Jerry Reinsdorf was reworked in the offseason with the aid of Thomas' new agent, Arn Tellum. Under the new terms, Thomas was paid $5 million this season.

But he now can invoke or decline a $6 million option for 2004. Should he decline, the Sox have the choice of invoking their $8 million option bringing him back for 2004. If the team declines, Thomas would get a $2 million buyout and the right to free agency.

The gamble for Thomas if he rejects the $6 million is that the Sox would pass on the $8 million -- and that the free-agent market also would pass on that kind of salary for him.

Thomas, 35, has a window of time shortly after the World Series ends to test the free-agent waters.

For now, the likelihood of Thomas leaving seems remote. :

http://www.suntimes.com/output/sox/cst-spt-sox282.html

I wouldn't say remote... As we make offers to Colon, it almost guarantees that one of our big 3 hitters is gone. If Frank puts the ball in ownership's hands, he will be playing with fire. If we can't get the right deal for Maggs, we won't just give him away. Carlos is young and improveing every year. If I were Frank, and wanted to stay in Chicago, I'd take my 6mm rather than risk having to be a FA. The FA market could be a tough place this season.

hold2dibber

09-28-2003, 11:50 AM

It seems to me that an important part of Frank's decision process will not only be what his '04 salary will be, but also the terms of his current Sox deal beyond '04. I can't remember those details, but I know he can basically guarantee himself something in the neighborhood of $24 million over the next 3 years by staying with the Sox. So he has to weigh not only if he thinks he can get more than $6 million for '04 on the FA market, but also how many years (for how many dollars) thereafter.

voodoochile

09-28-2003, 12:36 PM

Originally posted by jabrch
I wouldn't say remote... As we make offers to Colon, it almost guarantees that one of our big 3 hitters is gone. If Frank puts the ball in ownership's hands, he will be playing with fire. If we can't get the right deal for Maggs, we won't just give him away. Carlos is young and improveing every year. If I were Frank, and wanted to stay in Chicago, I'd take my 6mm rather than risk having to be a FA. The FA market could be a tough place this season.

Okay, so now that the details are in, it is $6M to keep Frank either way. He gets the $2M difference in options regardless of how the situation develops, so I guess you now want Frank back no matter what, correct?

Deadguy

09-28-2003, 12:40 PM

It's really difficult to speculate on this, since any of the 3 major scenarios can realistically happen:

*Thomas rejects the option, the Sox reject the option, and Thomas becomes a free agent.

I don't think there's any way to rule out any of the three from happening at this point. Thomas' numbers are good to the point that he's desirable to other teams, but his age and production aren't favorable enough to warrant a monster contract from any team.

Plus, some of the terms of the contract are still unclear. For instance, there's been some speculation as to whether Thomas has to pay the White Sox 2 million dollars to get out of the contract, but the way I read that article, it appears that Thomas gets 2 million if the Sox decline the 8 million dollar option.

Also, if scenario 3 occurs, and the existing contract is torn up, would it be possible for Thomas to resign with the Sox as a free agent, and get a brand new contract with more guaranteed money?

voodoochile

09-28-2003, 12:43 PM

Originally posted by Deadguy
It's really difficult to speculate on this, since any of the 3 major scenarios can realistically happen:

*Thomas rejects the option, the Sox reject the option, and Thomas becomes a free agent.

I don't think there's any way to rule out any of three from happening at this point. Thomas' numbers are good to the point that he's desirable to other teams, but his age and production aren't favorable enough to warrant a monster contract from any team.

Plus, some of the terms of the contract are still unclear. For instance, there's been some speculation as to whether Thomas has to pay the White Sox 2 million dollars to get out of the contract, but the way I read that article, it appears that Thomas gets 2 million if the Sox decline the 8 million dollar option.

Also, if scenario 3 occurs, and the existing contract is torn up, would it be possible for Thomas to resign with the Sox as a free agent, and get a brand new contract with more guaranteed money?

Anythings possible. The Sox and Frank can work out anything they want to, but Reinsy doesn't normally tear up contracts he has signed and why would they? Frank has a guaranteed $17M in his pocket if he just finishes the contract.

According to the Trib, the actual deal is that if Frank declines his option and the Sox offer theirs, then Frank can decide to accept or decline. If he declines their option then he has to pay $2M to become a FA (not going to happen). So if both sides decline he is a FA period.

One quote stuck out at me in the article:

"Of course I want to be here," he said before the Sox unloaded on the Royals in a 19-3 victory Saturday night. "This has been my career home. I had a great year and I hope to be back."

I felt a need to point it out since so many people have been ripping on Frank for his comments (I agree he is bad with the press). Nice to see the Big Man confirm what he has said for a long time. He wants to finish his career as a Sox player.

RKMeibalane

09-28-2003, 02:30 PM

Right now, I would say the chances of keeping Frank fall in about the 70/30% range. He has indicated several times that he wants to remain with the Sox, and has the right to make that decision for himself. If he declines his option, that may make things more difficult for Sox management.

Sox brass wants to bring Colon back, but he's going to cost money. I think they should make every effort to keep Colon, but feel the same way about Frank. Carl Everett is as good as gone, so the Sox cannot afford to use their most productive offensive player. Frank's departure would leave a huge hole in the lineup, which would not be filled easily.

Moving Paul Konerko would solve a lot of problems, but I doubt that anyone would be interested in him.

Steve Bartman

09-28-2003, 03:30 PM

Originally posted by RKMeibalane
Right now, I would say the chances of keeping Frank fall in about the 70/30% range. He has indicated several times that he wants to remain with the Sox, and has the right to make that decision for himself. If he declines his option, that may make things more difficult for Sox management.

Sox brass wants to bring Colon back, but he's going to cost money. I think they should make every effort to keep Colon, but feel the same way about Frank. Carl Everett is as good as gone, so the Sox cannot afford to use their most productive offensive player. Frank's departure would leave a huge hole in the lineup, which would not be filled easily.

Moving Paul Konerko would solve a lot of problems, but I doubt that anyone would be interested in him.

I bet the Giants would take Konerko. J.T. Snow might retire and he has been pretty unproductive this year. Plus, they have the money to pay Konerko. What do we get in return? Maybe a fifth starter or Todd Worell.

Gumshoe

09-28-2003, 05:29 PM

Thomas is staying here, I'm certain. As you know I think we do need to get rid of him, but I think it's more of a priority to get guys like Everett and Alomar out of the picture because they have NO future, and we can't keep this same team anyway. I think those guys are ok, but I'm still not convinced how much they helped us this year --- if we keep Jimenez or bring up Miles to play second and put Rowand in CF I think we would have had just as good a chance of winning this division --- and it's hard to argue this because we DIDN'T win the division, folks. YOu may come back and say it was all JM, and that might be, but the future is to NOT keep "no legs" Everett, and also let RA go, because while he is good defensively (I think the best 2B of all time) his production is very questionable compared to other options (and money issues). Just let Frank keep going but drop the others, and then maybe we will win (although keeping frank in the picture lessons the probability of us winning, maybe a good manager can get the guys winning with Frank). Who knows. Crede is going to be a superstar. If we keep good pitching, I like our direction. It seems that this Cubs push and the fact that this season was a TOTAL failure has put MAJOR pressure on JR, and I think he's almost ready to sell ... anyone agree?